Russians sign accord with Chechen government

December 8, 1995
Web posted at: 3:50 p.m. EST (2050 GMT)

MOSCOW (CNN) -- With parliamentary elections in Russia a week and a half away, the Russian Government has signed an agreement with the Chechen government officially joining Chechnya to the Russian Federation.

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin signed the agreement Friday with the Moscow-installed Chechen prime minister Doku Zavgayev in an effort to show Russian determination to find a political solution to the Chechen conflict. The accord sets out "basic principles" for the relationship between the two governments.

"All sides have undertaken to do all they could to settle the Chechen conflict by peaceful means," Chernomyrdin said.

But separatist rebels in the breakaway republic are unlikely to accept the document, which refers to "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation." Talks between all sides in the conflict -- including the rebels -- have been suspended following an attack on a Russian official in Grozny last month.

The signing of the agreement may have been prompted by the increasing violence as Russia's parliamentary elections approach. Indeed, the Itar-Tass news agency announced Friday that a candidate for the State Duma lower house was murdered near the Urals city of Chelyabinsk.

According to the news agency, Mikhail Lezhnev, backed by the government party "Our Home is Russia," was shot in the head. He was the second Russian political official to be killed in just over a week.

And while tensions in Russia are high, the continuing conflict over Chechnya's independence has pushed levels there past the boiling point. The separatists have already threatened to disrupt the December 17 elections. The Russian government, in another attempt to mollify the Chechens, has begun providing cash to Chechnya's civilian population to pay for damage caused by the conflict.

Russians sign accord with Chechen government

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